McCain objected to the Arizona SB1070 anti-illegal immigration law, which her father supported.[12]

McCain has championed for gay rights and she has commented that the cause of the gay community for equality is "one of the ones closest to my heart". As such, she spoke at the Log Cabin Republicans convention in April 2009.[9] There she encapsulated her cultural and political perspectives with the declaration: "I am concerned about the environment. I love to wear black. I think government is best when it stays out of people's lives and business as much as possible. I love punk rock. I believe in a strong national defense. I have a tattoo. I believe government should always be efficient and accountable. I have lots of gay friends. And, yes, I am a Republican."[13] She supports same-sex marriage and gay adoption.[9] In June 2009, McCain posed for the NOH8 Campaign, a celebrity photo project that protests California's Proposition 8 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, which her mother Cindy also posed for.[14] She was in favor of repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" and allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.[15] She serves on the Board of Directors of GLAAD.[16]

In terms of economic policy, she has remarked on The Rachel Maddow Show: "I didn't even take Econ[omics] in college. I don't completely understand it so I'd hate to make a comment one way or the other. That's – truly of all the things – I keep reading and I just don't understand it."[17]

McCain, far right, with her family and Sarah Palin's family during her father's announcement of Palin as his running mate, September 2008

On June 12, 2008, McCain wrote on her blog that she had changed her party registration to Republican.[1] She said she did so "as a symbol of my commitment to my Dad and to represent the faith I have in his ability to be an effective leader for our country and to grow and strengthen the Republican party when he is elected President of the United States".[1] In her book, Dirty Sexy Politics, McCain talks about how she nearly overdosed on Xanax on the day of the elections.[18]

In 2008, she published a book titled My Dad, John McCain. In an interview on Larry King Live in September 2008, McCain stated that she had been too busy to have a romantic relationship while on her father's campaign trail. Although her blogging was devoted to gaining support for her father among the Generation Z electorate, by October, Steve Schmidt and other McCain campaign staffers had substantially limited her appearances on the campaign, deeming her "too controversial".[19]

In March 2009, McCain wrote an article for The Daily Beast titled "My Beef With Ann Coulter". In this article, she questioned Republican support for conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter.[20] While Coulter did not respond, conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham challenged McCain's article by comparing her to a "Valley Girl". Ingraham also mocked McCain, stating, "Ok, I was really hoping that I was going to get that role in The Real World, but then I realized that, well, they don't like plus-sized models."[21] McCain responded to Ingraham in a second article for The Daily Beast titled, "Quit Talking About My Weight, Laura Ingraham" stating, "Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican Party, Ingraham resorted to making fun of my age and weight, in the fashion of the mean girls in high school."[22] McCain also stated on The View that she thought the change in discourse towards her body was "terrible" and further argued, "When Tyra Banks went on her show in a bathing suit and said 'kiss my fat ass,' that's what I feel like. Kiss my fat ass!"[23] Ingraham responded by calling McCain a "useful idiot".[24] During a later interview on Larry King Live, McCain said that as far as she is concerned, "with what's going on with Laura Ingraham, on my end, it's over." She also told King that Coulter never responded to her article, which she stated, "is fine with me. ... All I wanted to do is show women that you don't have to be Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham to have a place in the Republican Party. ... Supriya Jindal is a good role model, but a lot of people hadn't heard of her."[25]

McCain in 2009 at UC Berkeley

In April 2009, she signed a six-figure book deal with Hyperion.[26] Some 18,000 people were following her on Twitter.[26] She described her aims in this way: "All I am trying to be is a young, cool Republican woman for other Republican women."[26]The Politico stated that while John McCain did not emerge from the 2008 election victorious, "his Bud Light-drinking, talk-show-appearing, insouciantly Twittering 24-year-old daughter" did.[26] Speaking at the 2009 Log Cabin Republican Convention, McCain said there was "a war brewing in the Republican Party" between the past and the future, and that "Most of the old school Republicans are scared shitless of that future."[13] She followed that by saying her enjoyment of Twitter was diminished by the presence of top Republican strategist Karl Rove, saying "I can't shake the fact that Karl Rove is following me – it can be creepy" and "We need to take Twitter back from the creepy people."[27]

Statements such as these led news reports and commentators including Rachel Maddow and Kathleen Parker to conclude that McCain had the same "maverick gene" as her father.[28][29][30] Following the April 2009 party switch by Senator Arlen Specter from Republican to Democratic, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh suggested that many Republicans wished both John McCain and Meghan McCain would leave too.[31] Meghan McCain's tweet in response was, "RED TIL I'M DEAD BABY!!! I love the republican party enough to give it constructive criticism, I love my party and sure as hell not leavin!"[31] On a May 2009 episode of the Colbert Report, she stated her support for sex education and criticized Bristol Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation". McCain also stated her own desires for the Republican Party: "It can be a party for a 24-year-old pro-sex woman. It can be."[32] After John McCain campaign fixture Joe the Plumber made some anti-gay remarks (saying he would not have "queers ... anywhere near my children") in mid-2009, Meghan McCain took aim at him, saying "Joe the Plumber – you can quote me – is a dumbass. He should stick to plumbing."[33] In September 2009 and February 2010, McCain had repeat stints as guest co-host of The View.[15][34] In September 2010, she appeared on the NPR news quiz show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and won a prize for a listener.[35]

Her campaign memoir, Dirty Sexy Politics, was published in September 2010. In it she unleashes her feelings about Sarah Palin and describes the ups and downs she experienced with the McCain campaign staff. She states that the Republican Party seemed "to have lost its way in the last ten years",[36] that the conservative movement seemed "hell-bent on restricting our freedoms rather than expanding them",[37] and that within the Republican Party, she felt a certain stress to take over the ideas of others, like Mitt Romney, especially regarding same-sex marriage, which was a danger for the existence of the party.[38] The book also serves as a coming-of-age narrative about herself.[19][39] However, other reviews were more scathing. Leon H. Wolf wrote "It is impossible to read Dirty, Sexy Politics and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot."[40] During the promotional tour for the book, McCain cancelled an appearance at Juniata College due to what she called, "unforeseen professional circumstances". However, according to her Twitter, she was actually in Las Vegas on a girl's weekend, as she got over a boyfriend ending their relationship via e-mail.[41]

McCain has been lampooned and criticized by the political blogosphere. In September 2011, her lawyers asked RedState to take down posts that were parodying her commentary, as they made her appear buffoonish and arrogant. RedState complied.[42] In November 2011, McCain became an analyst on MSNBC, and immediately got into a back-and-forth with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.[6][43] In commentary on this, Gawker referred to her as "noted idiot Meghan McCain" and observed of her first outing that "she 'bets [her] career' that Newt Gingrich won't win the GOP nomination. What career."[44]

A month-long road trip with comedian Michael Ian Black in the summer of 2011 led to a collaboration on the 2012 book America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom.[45] In it, McCain lambasts Republican strategist Karl Rove for what she believes was his role in the attacks against her younger sister in her father's 2000 presidential campaign, castigates Bill Clinton for his actions in the Lewinsky scandal, but despite ideological differences, praises Hillary Clinton for having "pushed through many doors and shattered many glass ceilings for women in politics. I love women who don't put up with shit, and Hillary clearly doesn't."[45]

In September 2013, her road-based talk show Raising McCain began on the start-up Pivot cable and satellite television channel.[46] It was cancelled in January 2014.[47] She instead was added as a co-host to the show TakePart Live on the same channel, appearing with Jacob Soboroff beginning in May 2014.[47][48] The show was cancelled in December 2014.[49]